This invention relates generally as indicated to a dispensing apparatus for dispensing and distributing moist, self-adhering and compactible materials, and more particularly, to a dispensing apparatus which provides for more controlled dispensing and more uniform distribution and depositing of such materials in controlled small amounts in a uniform, thin layer onto products or articles passing therebeneath.
Heretofore, machines have been used for dispensing various forms of substantially dry, flowable materials as by sprinkling or dispersion. Such machines are particularly useful in the processed food preparation industry for dispensing salt, sugar, seeds, garnishing, decorative coatings, etc., onto food products passing or conveyed beneath the dispensing machine. Examples of such machines are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,070,264 and 3,788,529.
In both of these patents, which are owned by the same assignee as the present application, the material is fed from a hopper onto a rotating dispensing roll which has been found to be very effective in dispensing various forms of flowable dry, or substantially dry, edible or non-edible materials onto edible or non-edible products in a controlled manner. However, such machines cannot be effectively utilized to reliably dispense relatively moist, self-adhering and compactible materials. These types of materials tend to clog up the hoppers of such machines despite the use of reciprocating agitating plates and an oscillating comb-like member in the hopper as shown in the '264 patent. Also, the dispensing rolls themselves tend to form a hollowed out area in such moist, self-adhering and compactible materials at the bottom of the hopper which prevents the materials from being picked up by the dispensing rolls.
The machine of the '264 patent also includes a pair of relatively opposed stripping brushes in sweeping engagement with oppostie sides of the dispensing roll below the hopper which are effective in sweeping or stripping material from the roll. Moreover, one form of machine disclosed in the '529 patent includes a rotatable brush which is driven off the dispenser roll and engages the periphery of the dispenser roll below the hopper to maintain the periphery of the dispenser roll clear of the material being dispensed or encrustations thereof. However, in neither case do such brushes aid in any way in displacing the material in the hopper toward the dispenser roll. Nor do such brushes in any way assist in compacting the dispenser roll with material from the hopper.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,635, also assigned to the same assignee as the present application, discloses a machine for use in dispensing a wide variety of dry and moist materials including those which are self-adhering and/or compactible or which tend to agglomerate. However, because of the manner in which the material is separated by the grid plates of such machine as such grid plates are reciprocated back and forth, it is not possible to dispense material using this type of machine in the precisely controlled small amounts required for some applications.